How One UVA Darden Scholar’s Model Reimagines Food Redistribution

During Prem Menghwar’s studies and travels, it has always pained him to attend events where fresh and untouched boxed meals would be quietly thrown away. He wondered if there was a simple solution.

Prem Menghwar, postdoctoral fellow. Contributed image.

“It’s not that we don’t have enough food,” said Menghwar, now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. “It’s that we don’t have a system that makes it easy, affordable, and stigma-free to share what’s left.”

He saw nonprofit organizations as key players in helping to address this imbalance, if only they had better tools.

The thought sparked Menghwar to create “Take Food, Give Food,” a model designed to reduce waste, lower the logistical costs of redistribution, and shift how people think about receiving food. The initiative proposes that those closest to surplus food – at an organization, restaurant or corporate event – take it home. In exchange, they are encouraged to give back in other ways.

Source, author’s own elaboration

Menghwar emphasizes the importance of clear, simple communication. Signs or prompts at events could invite people to take the leftover food, while QR codes link to easy ways to give back, such as donating to a food bank or pledging to volunteer.

“They can just put out a table and say ‘Take Food, Give Food,’ with a QR code,” he said. “Students take food, donate one or two dollars, which for a food bank is a huge amount of money.”

An Idea With International Roots

Menghwar’s interest in food insecurity began years earlier during his time as a PhD student in Rome, where he co-authored a paper arguing that poverty was less about food scarcity and more about inefficient and inadequate food distribution.

In 2023 alone, an estimated 47.4 million people in the United States lived in food-insecure households, including 7.2 million children, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Meanwhile, according to Feeding America, the nation wasted 92 billion pounds of food which equals to 145 billion meals, or more than $473 billion worth of groceries annually. That’s nearly 38% of all food produced in the U.S., according to the organization.

Menghwar credits the specific inspiration for Take Food, Give Food to a model developed by the Rome-based food bank Banco Alimentare Roma, which partnered with over 400 frontline charities to serve more than 130,000 people.

Antonio Daood, President at Associazione Banco Alimentare Roma ODV. Contributed image.

Antonio Daood, a President at Banco Alimentare, said in an interview that while the traditional model involved collecting surplus food from sources and redistributing it from central warehouses, his team began exploring a more agile, decentralized system.

“More than 12 years ago, we started enabling frontline charities to collect surplus food directly from grocery stores,” said Daood. “It cut down on time, which is critical for perishables, and made the whole process more efficient.”

This local-level recovery strategy reduced pressure on the central food bank and gave frontline organizations more flexibility.

Eventually, Daood and his team launched a digital platform called Stasera Offro Io, Italian for “Tonight, it’s on me,” to coordinate these efforts.

That early innovation left a mark on Menghwar.

Take Food, Give Food takes the spirit of the Rome model and adapts it for a different cultural and logistical context, reframing food redistribution not as aid, but as community reciprocity.

“You feel like you’re doing good by taking food,” said Menghwar. “That changes the narrative. It removes the shame.”

A New Mindset

Stigma is one of the most persistent obstacles to solving food insecurity, said Millie Winstead, director of development and community engagement at the local Blue Ridge Area Food Bank in Virginia.

Millie Winstead, director of development and community engagement at the local Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.

“Unfortunately, there is a stigma associated with simply asking for help,” Winstead said. “We’ve built a culture that suggests people should just ‘pull themselves up by the bootstraps.’ But that’s hard when you don’t even have boots.”

The Take Food, Give Food model would reframe the act of receiving food as one of giving back, a mindset shift Winstead says is critical. It also brings more people to the table by allowing them to participate in ways that suit their means and schedules.

“You don’t have to donate money today,” Menghwar said. “You might volunteer next week or give what you can when you can. It’s about creating a culture of shared responsibility.”

A Perfect Fit for a Food Bank in Motion

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, which serves 25 counties and eight cities across central and western Virginia, already runs mobile food distribution programs and serves as a hub for over 400 partner agencies. Yet, barriers like transportation, language and geographic isolation remain.

“It’s incredibly expensive to be poor,” said Winstead.

“We see families spending more on transportation, utilities and medicine, leaving little for food. That’s why we’ve had to get creative.”

She believes Take Food, Give Food is the kind of creative thinking that can help fill those gaps.

“It aligns so well with our mission,” she said. “We hate to see food wasted. This model helps solve two problems at once: waste and hunger.”

“Imagine caterers, restaurants, or departments using this model,” she said. “It’s scalable and it’s personal.”

While food safety regulations prevent the food bank from accepting prepared items, Winstead sees potential for TFGF to thrive across campuses, local businesses, and beyond. And the model also increases opportunities for people to contribute to the food bank or spend time volunteering.

One Person, Big Impact

Winstead often hears from community members who wonder what difference they alone can make.

Her answer? A lot.

“When one person makes a donation, their dollar provides more than three meals,” she said. “And when one person takes the initiative to spread awareness or introduce a new idea like this, the ripple effect is enormous.”

Menghwar agrees. His goal isn’t to run the program himself, it’s to plant the seed and share it widely.

The model is currently being fine-tuned, and Menghwar has begun sharing information with prospective locations and organizations interested in adopting it. Leaders at the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank are watching with interest.

“The food bank leadership is eager to see how the model develops and grows,” said Winstead. “We see real potential for eventually promoting its use to other organizations once it’s been established.”

With support from the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and interest from food banks abroad, that seed is already starting to grow.

“This isn’t just about food,” Menghwar said. “It’s about how we think about helping each other. It’s about transforming small actions into collective change.”